Self is a very popular subject with Americans. Go into a Barnes and
Noble book store or any major chain and look at all the books concerning
self help, self enhancement, self esteem, self motivation, self image and
so on. Self is the focus of our attention. Who or what do we love more
than ourselves? Who doesn't want to improve themselves?
Many people become interested in Buddhism because they think that it is
a form of self enhancement or self betterment. They feel that meditation
and other Buddhist practices will make them a better person. It is like
Buddhist practice is a form of self improvement. As a matter of fact I
have had several people ask me to teach them various Buddhist practices,
they wanted to reduce stress in their life etc., but they were not
interested in Buddhism as such, just the practice.
I find this self improvement approach amusing. What is Buddhism? I
think that the most adequate description is the three Dharma marks;
suffering impermanence, no self. Of the three only the idea of no self is
uniquely Buddhist. Buddhism's unique contribution to the world is no self
yet the majority of people seek it as a form of self improvement.
Who would be interested in a religion of no self? Isn't it more fun to
be made in the image of God? Isn't it more fun to have a permanent aspect
of self called soul which is immortal? We love ourselves so much who could
consider no self? Of all attachments the strongest is attachment to
oneself. With all the hype of building a strong ego who could actually
consider crushing their own ego?
The biggest challenge a Buddhist practitioner faces is the
understanding of no self. A famous line from Dogen "knowing Buddhism
is knowing self, knowing self is forgetting self". I can phrase this
another way "know self = no self". All Buddhist practices are
designed to know self. We think that we know self but we actually
misunderstand self. Buddhism is the slap in the face that wakes us up to
our true self.
We view ourselves as being independent. What I do has nothing to do
with what you do, we are independent of each other. We take a self
centered approach, I-ness, ego centeredness, me. I come first and I do
what benefits me regardless of whether it benefits others or the world in
general. This is a misunderstanding from a Buddhist perspective.
Buddhism views self not as being independent but as being inter
dependent. What I do does have an effect on you and what you do does have
an effect on me, as we are interdependent. If I throw garbage on the
street both you and I have to live with litter. We are interdependent with
the entire universe. What we do effects the whole and the whole effects
us. When we understand our true self as being interdependent then there is
no self, just oneness.
